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So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
So, 2014 - how was it for me? If I wanted to sum it up in one word, I'd probably have to say 'mixed'; if I was allowed two words 'fair to middling' - sorry, that's three words - this is beginning to be not unlike the Spanish Inquisition sketch. This post isn't going to be well thought out, or edited prettily - it's fairly 'stream of consciousness' writing. I'll probably miss out important things from my year - but this is how I feel about my year now...
In lowlights, helping Linda trying to 'sort out' her step-mother's affairs in the wake of her father's death and supporting her through her grief must rank 'down there'. Having an infected insect bite, which caused a little 'health scare' of its own (some doctor, who perhaps ought to have known better, suggested that I was diabetic - it turns out that I'm definitely not) wasn't the greatest moment either. Church work 'got to me' in a big way at one stage too, and I began to wonder whether I could continue as churchwarden at all, let alone 'see out' my possible maximum term of office - stressful.
Love
Recently, I have been feeling very blessed. I have such a lot of lovely friends. This post is really to pay tribute to those who love me. Thank you for being there for me, always, through both the good times and the bad. You all mean so much to me - more than I'm capable of expressing. My prayer is that, with God's help, I might be the same to you. But what do I mean by love?
Love is one of those things that the English language doesn’t express very well. We have one word, love, which describes a series of different feelings, thoughts and actions, all of which get lumped in together - it’s very confusing, and open to misinterpretation. Lots of words for rain, but only one for love; surely that tells us something about the British psyche! New Testament Greek, on the other hand, has four, which is much more like it.
John, in his gospel, quoted Jesus as saying:
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:9-17
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